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Leadership and Career Seminars 
P/C Insurance Seminars 
  Mock Trial
  ID Theft & Data Protection
  The War for Talent
  Managing Performance
  Emerging Issues in Prof. Liability
  D&O Insurance
  Reinsurance—State of the Art
  Large Commercial Projects
  Emerging Issues
  Government Regulation
  Evolution of the CGL
  Enterprise Risk Management
  Agent E&O
  Workers Compensation
  Commercial Accounts
  Insurance Regulation History
  Risks and Climate Change
  Coverage Evaluations
  Ethics and Diversity
  Ethics in Business
2008 Seminar Tracks 

Sunday, September 7 2:45 – 4:45 p.m.  CE
Emerging Issues in Professional Liability: The Subprime Mortgage Crisis

This panel will explore the subprime mortgage crisis including its origin and its impact on professional liability coverage. The session will discuss regulatory action and civil litigation. It will also evaluate insurance coverage issues. Attendees will leave with insights into the scope of the professional liability marketplace and the educational opportunities available through the Registered Professional Liability Underwriter designation (RPLU).

Moderator

Francis M. Chmielewski, J.D., CPCU, ARe, American Institute for CPCU and Insurance Institute of America. Chmielewski is a graduate of Drexel University and the Dickinson School of Law. Following a judicial clerkship in Philadelphia, he worked as a litigator for several years. Chmielewski’s career next took him into the insurance industry as a claims attorney for a major carrier, followed by various technical claims specialist positions with medical and legal malpractice insurers. Today, he is a director of assessments for AICPCU/IIA.

Presenters

Richard J. Bortnick, J.D., Cozen O’Connor. Bortnick concentrates his practice in directors' and officers' liability, securities fraud, professional liability, cyber and technology risks, insurance coverage, products liability, employment practices, and commercial litigation. He frequently writes and lectures on various matters relating to liability and insurance coverage issues. Bortnick currently serves as a member of the executive corporate committee of the Franklin Institute science museum and is on the Steering Committee for PLUS's Mid-Atlantic Chapter

Gary R. Shendell, J.D., is the former founding shareholder of the Fort Lauderdale office of Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, where he concentrated his practice from 2002-2006 in complex insurance and commercial litigation. He serves as managing shareholder for S&P, and his insurance litigation practice includes the defense of professionals: attorneys, accountants, architects, and engineers, directors and officers, brokers-dealers, insurance agents, fiduciaries, real estate agents, and title agents. He lectures on accountants' liability and risk management issues before numerous groups and firms throughout South Florida.

Shendell also prosecutes and defends first party and third party coverage matters, including recision issues. He has experience in monitoring complex matters for excess insurance carriers. He has assisted clients and carriers in their compliance with Florida's Insurance Code in order to avoid potential waiver of defenses. He also provides insurance coverage opinions, and when required, pursues actions for declaratory relief. Shendell has been involved in insurance regulatory affairs nationally.

Shendell devotes considerable time in matters of complex commercial litigation, including disputes in the areas of construction, contract, fraud, deceptive trade practice actions, and business torts. His construction litigation practice has involved a wide variety of construction related issues, including: construction and design defects, disputes among owners and contractors, indoor air quality, and mold. Shendell utilizes his experience in tax probate and estate planning in the probate litigation arena as well.

Shencell is a 1987 graduate of James Madison University where he received his bachelor of science degree in Accounting. He obtained his juris doctorate in 1992 from the University of Miami School of Law. He is admitted to the bars of the State of Florida and State of New Jersey. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Southern, Middle and Northern District Courts of Florida, and all Circuit and County Courts in Florida.

William Feldhaus, Ph.D, CPCU, CLU, is an associate professor of risk management and insurance in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. Feldhaus is a member of the American Risk and Insurance Association (ARIA), Southern Risk and Insurance Association (SRIA), Western Risk and Insurance Association (WRIA), Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) and CPCU Society. Over the years he has been very active in the local chapters of the CPCU Society and RIMS, chairing numerous committees and serving as an officer and director. He is past president of SRIA and the CPCU Society Georgia Chapter. He has been widely published regarding his research activities in risk management and insurance. Feldhaus served as editor of The Hold Harmless Agreement, a popular reference book published by the National Underwriter Company. He is the coordinating author of two texts on surplus lines insurance—Surplus Lines Insurance: Principles and Issues and Surplus Lines Insurance Practices. He authored Risk Retention Groups and Risk-Based Pricing Factors for Property-Liability Guaranty Funds, research projects of the CPCU Society Georgia Chapter. He was a contributing author of a research study for the United Nations (UNCTAD) on risk management in developing countries. Feldhaus has served as an educational consultant for a number of organizations including NAPSLO and PLUS. He was instrumental in the development of the Associate in Surplus Lines Insurance (ASLI) and the Registered Professional Liability Underwriter (RPLU) professional designation programs. Feldhaus is a well known speaker to numerous industry groups and corporations.  

Feldhaus received his B.A. from Miami University and his M.B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Georgia State University.

Deborah K. Ropelewski, CPCU, AU, ARM, ARe, CPIW, is director of education for PLUS.
Ropelewski has been involved in the Professional Liability industry since 1983. She served as a senior underwriter for two national Medical Professional Liability carriers, working with both physician and facility business before joining a major broker in 1987. She spent 19 years as a reinsurance intermediary and was with Arthur J. Gallagher’s healthcare group immediately prior to joining the PLUS staff in late 2006. Ropelewski holds a B.S. in business from Virginia Tech, as well as the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter; associate in Underwriting, Risk Management, and Reinsurance (AU, ARM, and ARe); and Certified Professional Insurance Woman designations.

She has been involved with the Registered Professional Liability Underwriter Program since 1993, having served as the chairman of the RPLU Committee, and also as the curriculum committee co-chairman. Ropelewski helped found and served as co-chairman for the PLUS Medical Professional Liability Symposium in years 2001-2003, and was elected to the PLUS Board of Trustees in November 2003. She assumed the role of PLUS director of education in September, 2006. Ropelewski serves on the Insurance Liaison Committee for the Tommy T. Martin Chair of Insurance at Middle Tennessee State University, and is vice president-education for the CPCU Society's Middle Tennessee Chapter.

Gary R. Shendell, J.D.
Shendell & Pollock

Co-sponsored by the Excess/Surplus/Specialty Lines Interest Group and
Professional Liability Underwriting Society (PLUS)

 

CE = Filed for CE credits